Between a Western Career and Traditional Community: Narratives of Successful Ethiopian Immigrant Women

The study’s objective was to examine the relations between successful Ethiopian immigrant women in Israel and their traditional community, as well as the strategies they adopt to contend with its expectations. Based on a qualitative life and work history methodology, the data were collected from 34 successful women who emigrated from Ethiopia to Israel. Results show three dialectical axes scrutinizing the interrelations of the participants with their community (found both between different participants and within the same woman): (a) trenchant criticism of the community coupled with praise and pride, (b) community as a support base or as hindering personal development, and (c) a desire for separation/detachment from community coupled with a desire to support the community. The findings demonstrate how the Ethiopian women contend with the normative demands of two different, clashing systems: the Ethiopian community-family system and Israel’s neoliberal labor market.